


Your Heart On the Line

by kittynightterrors



Category: The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 22:12:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17252330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittynightterrors/pseuds/kittynightterrors
Summary: James is an older college student who just wants to sip his coffee without shitty hipster music. If it weren't for the really nice looking barista he probably would find another shop that didn't have frickin' open mic night every week.





	Your Heart On the Line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sippingandshipping](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sippingandshipping/gifts).



There weren’t many perks to being an older college student, especially when you were pushing 29 like James was. Going to parties was very weird when some kids were almost ten years his senior, something he did once and got him labeled as the “Creepy adult with the weed”. Making friends was pretty much impossible with his major as well, since most journalism kids were… well, kids. They all had dreams to go work for the “Big Three”, and that was probably the farthest thing from what James wanted. He wanted to talk about gaming and pop culture, animation, shit that was rarely discussed in the big fancy journalism building he spent most of his life in. Sure, copyright laws were super interesting as were ethics, but when would he learn how to edit together a piece? When would he be able to get behind a camera, get his hand on mics, ya know, the fun stuff?

While there weren’t too many perks to being a student, there were definitely perks to being in a college town though. His favorite being coffee shops that never seemed to close. They had the same half dozen faces, who always sat in the exact same spots, almost as if time stopped in the little cafe. And there were many times James felt that way, just losing hours to the sounds of bizarre trappish music and the lovely smell of whatever coffee was brewing that day. It also helped that the barista, James wonders if he’s the only barista, was a very good looking man, muscular and bearded. Looked like he could probably break James over his knee, a thought he would often run with when he made it back to his shitty little apartment. The big buff barista, named Brett, seemed to really enjoy making coffee for all the college kids and hipsters that rolled into his café at 3am with death in their eyes. It got to a point where Brett would have James’ coffee ready by the time he got in the door, it was a nice little routine. One that James started to question because, was his life really that fuckin’ routine?

Apparently, it was routine enough for Brett to get mildly concerned when James missed an evening of coffee and existential dread he was asked what happened to him. The usual answer was group projects, which meant James did 99% of the work and the 1% from the rest of the group came from the collective putting their names on the paper. ‘Cause clearly nothing has changed with group work since he had been in school. The response will normally get him a nice little chuckle from the barista who will wink at him as he grabs him a beer from the fridge along with his coffee.

“Free of charge.” He always says it, and James is starting to wonder if there’s a possible mutual thing between them. The free drinks and winks certainly made it feel that way, and the occasional hand brush when Brett handed him a coffee didn’t help the feelings. Maybe he’ll grow the balls to ask the barista out, maybe.

There was one big, big down fall to the coffee shop though: shitty hipsters singing shitty hipster music every Thursday. Thankfully, the shit level would change, as it was rare that the same little hipster showed back up, but James swore the next time he fucking heard Wonderwall he’d rip some fuck head’s mustache off. Honestly, the song wasn’t that fucking good to begin with! But still, James endured because honestly, he liked to just be around Brett. When it was Hipster Thursday he would generally come into the café before the sun disappeared to help the man set up the mic and the chairs. They would shoot the shit about the music that was playing, and Brett would always insist that James did not have to sit through the millionth Oasis cover or the random poet who thought they were just so damn deep.

“Come on, dude, I know you can’t concentrate with the music going.”

“Yeah, because I can concentrate with trap music.”

“Hey! It’s not trap! It’s a mix of low fi and house, which I might add, sounds nothing like trap! Sure the occasional dubstep song shows up, but again not trap!” The man’s tone was sarcasm mixed with mild, genuine exasperation that James couldn’t tell the differences in electronic music.

“Oh my fuck, whatever, it’s noise with a bass drop. There. Still, it’s an atmospheric thing when it comes to studying. I mean, it’s not like I don’t have internet at home, but while I’m home it’s just me and my dog, who is great, and I love her to pieces, but she can’t make me coffee.”

“Oh, so you just like me ‘cause I make you coffee?” Brett snickered as he started working on hooking up the mic.

“Obviously! Coffee and muscles, that’s all I need to get me through a fuckin’ ethics paper,” James laughed before realizing what he said. He stared hard at the floor as he started to rearrange the back row of chairs, trying to get them as straight as possible to ignore the awkwardness of the comment.

“Well, man buns get me through my shift.” He tipped his head when he heard that, instinctively reaching back to pat his bun. He knew the comment had to been about him, but still there was a possibility that there were more man buns lurking around the café. They kept quiet while they finished up the setup, finally plopping down in the front row to wait for the musicians to file in. The people that came in to play looked like the stereotypical type, all with acoustic guitars and slouched beanies. They looked uppity and James probably should cool it with the annoyance, but he couldn’t help it. Sure, maybe he couldn’t play music, but damn.

One of the last people to wander into the café was a skinny little guy in a hoodie with his sleeves pushed up to show off his tattoos. He looked more like he belonged at the skate park than with all the people who would be playing, but he took a seat next to Brett, his guitar case between his legs as he leaned back into the chair. There was a clear tension between the two and James tried pretty hard to ignore it, but he couldn’t help being nosey. Skater boy would let his knee brush up against Brett’s, who would close his legs or move closer to James. It was weird, but James might be reading too much into it. Maybe Brett just didn’t want to be touched?

Six or so singers later and little skater boy went up to take his spot in front of the microphone. He tuned his guitar as he introduced himself. Aleks, apparently, was really nervous when he said he only came out for one person. James side eyed Brett, who was showing zero emotion. Which was good, meant that the tension was all in James’ head. The kid started strumming the guitar, tapping his foot along to keep the pace. Much to James’ appreciation it was a Mumford and Sons song that was being covered, though if you wanted his opinion it was still pretty cliché. Not Wonderwall cliché, but still.

Aleks’ voice was nice and there was an obvious aching in his voice, especially when the chorus came up. It was really soothing, even if it was really sad. James felt bad for the guy and for whoever the guy had hurt. He had zoned out, just listening to the performance, but he was quickly pulled away when there was movement next to him. Glancing to Brett, he noticed the man was very uneasy, and reality came crashing down around him when the barista was up and out of the room before James could stop him. There was just barely a stop in the music and James was on his feet as the man started to sing again, the chorus chasing him out of the room as he went to find Brett.

The barista had gone upstairs to where the kitchen was, pacing back and forth with clear agitation in his stride. James looked around to see that the regulars had gone down to listen to the music. Good.

“Brett, you ok-“

He couldn’t finish his sentence as he was being pushed up against a wall, lips crashing into his. He wanted to stop it, but he also had never wanted something so badly. It was strange to make out with a guy who’s ex was singing a love song to him a floor below. It was strange to have tears on his cheeks from a muscular man. Everything about his kiss with Brett was strange, but so, so incredibly nice. He probably should protest, someone could walk in on them but fuck it, James hadn’t had anyone in his arms in such a long time. When the kissing stopped, Brett pulled away with a half-hearted laugh as he wiped at his face.

“Exs, am I right? Buncha dick heads,” he rumbled as he kept rubbing at his eyes. James gave a little nod as he rested a hand on the man’s bicep.

“You alright?”

Brett nodded, but his face clearly said, “I don’t wanna fucking talk about it”, so James let it go, and just pulled the other man into a hug. If that’s all he could do to give his support, then he was going to fucking do it right. At some point Aleks’ crooning had stopped and someone else was singing. James made a face and gently pushed the older man away to press their foreheads together.

“You can’t abandon your little open mic night, you know that right?”

Brett rolled his eyes and moved away to straighten out his clothes, looking a little annoyed at the mention of having to go back down there.

“Yeah, but I really don’t want to see Aleks.”

“Yeah, but you really gotta.”

The barista shook his head as he headed for the stairs. He held out his hand behind him and James was quick to hold it as they walked down the stairs.

“I don’t have to do shit, it’s his shop.”

James stopped walking and gently gave a tug to the other man’s hand, causing him to stop moving and look up at him.

“Wait, wait, this is his coffee shop?”

“Yeah kina, I mean it’s our shop, but he never shows up. He just pays me and fucks off to do…whatever his next big thing is.”

“Isn’t it weird? To work for an ex? To… To co-own something with an ex?”

“I mean, yeah? But I like having the lights on. Plus, someone’s gotta get you some coffee.”

James’ mouth opened and shut a couple of times before he laughed, giving Brett’s hand another gentle squeeze.

“So…do you think he like left?”

“Knowing Aleks, probably not. But...” Brett shrugged, scrunching his nose for a moment before he started back down the stairs. The two stopped at the landing when they saw Aleks sitting alone at a table, staring through everyone in the shop. James watched the man carefully and noticed him fidgeting with his ring finger, prompting the man to look to Brett’s hand. There wasn’t a ring there, but the pieces started to fall into place. It was sad and uncomfortable, and it made James feel a little dirty. He dropped Brett’s hand and sighed, looking between the two men.

“Divorced?”

“Separated.”

James sighed again and took a seat on the steps.

“Still love him?”

“…Unfortunately.”

James kept watching Aleks just stare. He wanted to be mad about the situation, but he couldn’t in good faith really be upset. It was a too much too soon kind of thing, and if he was honest with himself, he probably put too much stock into whatever flirting he and Brett did. Maybe he was the push Brett needed to get back with Aleks? And if that’s the case, he wouldn’t be too mad. At least Brett got to be happy. He leaned back on the stairs, finely looking up at the man he had been kissing not two minutes ago.

“Get back with him.”

“No.”

Brett gave James an angry look for even suggesting such a thing, and finally went down stairs to join the crowd of the open mic. Well, that shut that down real quick. He looked to Aleks, who watched the barista but never made a move to talk to him. With a huff, he got up and pulled out his phone to get a Lyft. Everything was weird now, and he just wanted to get home. His thumb hovered over the app before he went to open Facebook, deciding to put his stupid studies to work and do a bit of investigating on this Aleks guy. He wasn’t going to be a side piece for a separated, but still legally married, man, but he would be willing to play cupid.

It didn’t take long to find Aleks’ Facebook and huffed when he found the man’s profile was completely private. He double and triple checked that Brett didn’t have one as well before he shot Aleks a friend request. Being cupid was going to be a long con, but if it meant Brett would be happy then cool. Sure, maybe it wasn’t the most normal thing in the world to try and get two separated people back together, but James was nosey and empathetic. Both men were clearly hurting, and while Brett was a fantastic kisser, it wasn’t right. Those lips should be on Aleks’.

“Do it for Brett,” he mumbled to himself as he put his phone away. He stayed at the café a little longer, listened to the dumb hipsters and worked on a paper. He wanted to be as normal as possible for the barista. Sure, he might have checked Facebook compulsively to see if the request was accepted, but the rest of the night had gone relatively normally. He stayed around for Brett to close the café and walked with him to his car.

“Listen, James, I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Nah, it’s cool. Emotions are weird and make people do stupid shit, it’s cool.”

Brett stopped walking and gave the other man a look up and down.

“It’s not cool, but I’m not gonna argue. Just… Just know I’m really sorry. If…If me being separated isn’t too weird, I would like to try an actual date, maybe?”

James laughed and was about to agree to it before his phone dinged. He pulled it out and saw that Aleks had accepted the friend request. His heart did a weird thing in his chest and he put his phone in his pocket. To be cupid or to wreck this marriage? Those were his options and he didn’t know what to do.

“You being separated isn’t weird,” he said, making up his mind then and there. “Coffee tomorrow, say six o’clock?” Brett laughed and gave the man a kiss on the forehead, agreeing to the date before he got in the car and drove off with a wave. James smiled and pulled his phone out again, sending Aleks a message on Facebook. He complimented the man’s performance before he sighed as he closed out the app to get himself an Uber. He decided he would do both, and whatever happened first happened. If he could get Brett back in Aleks’ arms, fine, but if Brett chose him then…then fine, but they would definitely have to talk about the whole still married thing.

**Author's Note:**

> I listen to Little Lion Man way too fuckin' much. Anyway, this is a piece for the Cow Chop Secret Santa that was held over on tumblr. This is a gift for sippingandshipping who wanted a fluffy coffee shop AU. I got like one of those down so go me!


End file.
